Many vehicle seats, such as those on passenger aircraft, buses, trains, and the like have installed thereon a footrest for the comfort of passengers. In many cases, these footrests are installed on an aft surface of each passenger seat for the use by a passenger seated in the next-aft passenger seat. Conventionally, these footrests were designed to rotate from a deployed position below the passenger seat (similar to the position shown in FIG. 4) to a stowed position adjacent a passenger seat back (similar to the position shown in FIG. 5).
In many cases, these pivoting footrests were designed with a post on each side and a bar connecting the two posts so that the footrest pivoted from two locations and had stability from the dual post design.
However, in an effort to reduce the weight associated with the dual post design, as well as to provide a slimmer design that is less intrusive in passenger space, a single post footrest design was developed, such as the version illustrated in FIGS. 1-2. This design includes a single post pivotally connected to a saddle with two paddles extending from either side of the single post. To control the movement of the post, a dual ratchet mechanism and a dual friction mechanism are included on each side of the single post adjacent the pivotal connection of the post to the saddle. The dual mechanisms were needed to provide stability to the single post design during use, but create additional weight and the additional mechanical parts create additional maintenance issues.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a single post footrest design that provides a light weight structure that eliminates the need for dual ratchet and friction mechanisms, while also providing sufficient rigidity and stability to the footrest design.